3rd team gain promotion in a tense final Saturday

A tense final Saturday saw a thrilling end to MBBO Division 4 in two matches in the north Chilterns, with Henley 3rd team finally securing promotion.

Knowing that Oxford 4ths would be almost certain to finish at the top of the league, this left Amersham & Chalfont 2nds and Henley 3rds fighting for second position and promotion. If both sides won their matches on Saturday, each would end level on 50 points and the league position would be determined by goal difference.

Henley started with a goal difference advantage of 6 thanks to some heavy goalscoring earlier in the season. Though overhauling this seemed unlikely, Amersham have scored 26 goals in the last 4 games and have closed the gap alarmingly. If Amersham were to win by 8 clear goals, this would put Henley under serious pressure.

Playing before Henley in the morning against Eastcote, Amersham were 4-0 up after 20 minutes, and looked as if they would score many more as the visitors started to tire. However, an excellent performance by the Eastcote goalkeeper kept them at bay and along with many missed opportunities, Amersham finally won 6-0.

With this result, Henley travelled to Aylesbury knowing that they needed just a victory from their afternoon fixture, which would automatically maintain a superior goal difference. Although Aylesbury are at the bottom of the league, this was definitely not expected to be simple given the home side have fought extremely hard in recent weeks, achieving some impressive results including a draw against Oxford 4ths.

Henley started with typical aggression and drive, distributing the ball sharply across the pitch. Matthew Herbert looked particularly dangerous on the right wing, and Timothy Herbert proved to be impossible for the Aylesbury defence to handle, traversing the pitch repeatedly to intercept balls played down the flanks.

Aylesbury rarely troubled the experienced defence of Mike Woolfrey, Rowan Austin and Ian Heggie – but Aylesbury’s defensive formation proved difficult for the visitors to break down, and several chances went unconverted. Tension and frustration started to show as Henley started to make some reckless tackles in the battle to regain possession and drive forward.

Henley then lost pivotal midfielder Julian Herbert to injury, which could have proved disruptive. But from the resulting short corner Woolfrey stepped up looking supremely composed and confident, and his rasping short corner strike found the corner of the goal.

Showing more composure after the interval, Henley continued to dominate possession. With 15 minutes remaining, Leo Packham then enabled Henley to relax, scoring the second with a neat finish on the reverse side following a driving move on the right. At 2-0, Henley closed out the game comfortably.

After 22 hard fought matches this season, Henley 3rds have achieved promotion into MBBO Division 3 for the first time.

It is fitting that promotion comes down to goal difference, given Henley have played an ambitious and creative style of hockey, scoring 84 goals in total.

The team will reflect on a job well done and given such a close battle with Amersham, will remember key turning points – the most notable being Ian Rechner’s last minute goal at West Hampstead to salvage an unlikely draw, and Tim Barrass’s late winner against Ealing Lions early in the season.